Remarks to the Business Community in Hyderabad

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 27, 2000

March 24, 2000

Thank you. Thank you very much. First of all, thank you all for coming Out in such large numbers on this warm day to this wonderful facility. It may be that every day is a warm day, but for us, it's a new experience. [Laughter] And I rather like it.

Mr. Raju, thank you very much. President Bajaj, President Batnagar, Mr. Hariharan, and Chief Minister Naidu, thank you all for welcoming us here. And I must say, when I was watching the Chief Minister give his speech, I wish I had brought some slides--[laughter]--because it was so very impressive. And you should know that he is becoming--[applause]--yes, he did a good job.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, you will remember much more of what he said than what I am about to say. [Laughter] And he is becoming very well-known in the United States and very much admired for all of these remarkable achievements, and I thank him.

I would like to thank your Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Chandra, for coming back to India and making this trip with me. And thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador, for what you do.

I would like to thank the large number of Americans who are here with me, including six Members of our Congress. And I would like to ask them to stand because they come on these trips with me--I get to give the speeches; they have to sit and listen. And then when we go home, they have all the power over the money. [Laughter] So I would like to introduce Representative Gary Ackerman from New York, Representative Nita Lowey from New York, Representative Jim McDermott from Washington, Representative Ed Royce from California, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas, and Representative Jan Schakowsky from Chicago, Illinois. Thank you very much.

If that doesn't improve the aid program for India, I don't know what will. [Laughter] And make sure we have no burden on commerce between ourselves.

I want to thank Secretary Daley, the Secretary of Commerce, for being here; and Brady Anderson, the Administrator of our USAID program; and Dr. Neal Lane, my Science Adviser; and Dr. Rama Murthi; and of course, Ambassador Dick Celeste and Jacqueline, his wife.

I'd also like to point out I have-I don't know how many, but I have at least four Indian-Americans with me working on this trip who are actually in the audience today, and two of them are from here in Hyderabad. So I'd like to acknowledge Rekha Chalasani from AID, and Mona Mohib who works with us in the White House. I thank them for being here.

You should also know this was a very coveted trip from Washington to India. My Chief of Staff is on this trip, my National Security Adviser. Everyone wanted to come. Those who did are happy; those who are still at home working are angry. [Laughter] But we know--we know a lot of our future depends upon whether we have the right kind of partnership with India.

Once historians said of your nation, India is the world's most ancient civilization, yet one of its youngest nations. Today, in this ancient city, we see leadership to drive the world's newest economy.

One of the greatest joys of being President of the United States for me has been to be involved with the people at home who are pushing the frontiers of science and technology. Many people believe that I asked Al Gore to he my Vice President because he knew roughly 5,000 times more about computer technology than I did. [Laughter]

But I have learned every day now, for over 7 years. And I think it's very interesting for a man my age--I'm 53, which is way too old to make any money in information technology. [Laughter] But it's very interesting--the terms that are used today by young people and not-so-young people anymore had such different meanings for me when I was in my twenties. When I was a young man, chips were something you ate, windows were something you washed, disks were part of your spinal column, that when you got older often slipped out of place, and semiconductors were frustrated musicians who wished they were leading orchestras. [Laughter] The world is a very different place today.

I want to speak briefly about how our nations already are working together to seize the possibilities of the information age and about what we can do to make sure no one is left behind. I particularly appreciated the Chief Minister's emphasis on this in his remarks, because, for me, the true test of the information revolution is not just the size of the feast it creates but the number of people who can sit at the table to enjoy it.

It is incredible to think about how far science has come in just the 7 years and a few months since I first became President. In that time we have explored a galaxy 12 billion light years away. We have seen the cloning of animals. We are just a few months away from completing the sequencing of the human genome, with all that promises for improving the life and quality of life of people all around the world.

When I was elected President, there were--listen to this--there were only 50 sites on the World Wide Web in January of 1993. Today there are more than 50 million, and it is the fastest growing communications medium in history.